Shaolin Soccer (Chinese: 少林足球) is a 2001 Hong Kong sports comedy film directed by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the lead role. The film revolves around a former Shaolin monk who reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play football and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses. Over the years the film has grown as a cult film.

"Golden Leg" Fung, a football star, beats and berates his teammate Hung when the latter offers him a cheque to lose the game, claiming to be the middleman. But Fung takes the cheque in the end and loses the game. Angry spectators beat him and break his leg.

Twenty years later, Fung walks with a limp and is the mistreated lackey of Hung, now a successful businessman. When Fung asks to coach Hung's football team, Hung mocks him and reveals he tricked him with a bad cheque and hired those who broke his leg. While drinking his sorrows in the streets, Fung comes across Sing, a Shaolin kung fu master who wants to promote the practical benefits of the martial art to the world. No one takes kung fu classes from Sing, however, as he is dirty and poor. He steals mantou (steamed buns) from Mui, a woman with severe acne, who uses Tai chi to cook the food.

At first disdainful, Fung soon discovers the power of Sing's leg and offers to coach him in football. Compelled by the idea of promoting kung fu through football, Sing asks his former Shaolin brothers to join his team. Sing's brothers eventually agree. As a test, Fung arranges a game with a team known for their vicious cheating. The thug team gives the Shaolin team a beating. When all seems lost, the Shaolin team members reawaken their powers and utilize them to defeat the other team. The thugs ask to join Sing's team. Sing takes Mui to try on expensive dresses at a high-end department store after hours and offers to buy her one. She gets a makeover to impress him, though the team and her boss mock her exaggerated '80s look. When Mui hints at her feelings for Sing, he tells her he only wants to be friends. She disappears after her boss fires her.

Team Shaolin enters the open cup competition in Shanghai, where they see ridiculously one-sided victories due to their powers. They only meet their match in the final against Hung's Team Evil, who have superhuman strength and speed due to an American drug. The referee has also been bought out by Hung. Team Evil badly injures two of Team Shaolin's goalkeepers; the powerless members of Team Shaolin then flee. As the team is about to lose by default, Mui, who has shaved her head, reappears as their goalkeeper. When Team Evil's striker kicks the ball with flaming force towards Mui, she stops it with tai chi. She and Sing combine their skills and rocket the ball downfield. The ball blows through Team Evil's goal while hurling along all its players, scoring the sole and winning goal.

Later, Hung is imprisoned for doping, while the Team Evil players receive lifetime bans. Sing goes out for a jog and is pleased to see people around him using kung fu in their everyday lives, his lifelong dream having become a reality. A large ad on the side of a building shows that Sing and Mui, a famous couple, have won the world championship in bowling, among other things.

The inspiration for Shaolin Soccer came from Chow wanting a unique premise for a martial arts action film. According to an interview with Premiere Magazine, Chow stated,

Actually the 'over the top' CG and kinetic soccer moves were an inspiration that came from the classic Japanese manga series Captain Tsubasa. The animation was very big in Hong Kong over ten years ago when it swept kids of all ages and even adults loved it. It has a cult following in Europe as well. But it was only possible with pen and ink back then, now with the advent of CGI, it can really be done....(the idea of combining it with Kung Fu was in my head for many years but we had to wait for the CG technology to mature)